Had you seen them arrive, it would have been a sight to marvel at – three 2,100 tonne cranes arriving via large ship into Waitemata Harbour from China.

At $20 million each, they were the newest addition to the Ports of Auckland (POA) suite of five other cranes, received in October 2018.

Complete with full LED lighting and solar panels installed on the roof of the machine house, dual twin spreaders, and standing at 82.3 metres high to the apex – the driver’s cab sits more than 10m higher than POA’s current cranes.

The Australian Standards for cranes are being transformed to make them more relevant for developments in crane technology. Australia and New Zealand has a joint Standards committee for cranes, ME005. John Miller (Ports of Auckland and former CA Councilor) is the CA nominated committee member. The other NZ committee members are nominated by Work safe NZ and Engineering NZ. There are two series of standards, AS1418 (technical specifications) and AS2550 (safe use practice). AS2550 is equivalent to the NZ Approved Code of Practice Cranes. The joint AS/NZS standards are for Elevating Working Platforms and Vehicle Loading Cranes. All other standards are Australian only.

In a recent case, a South Island construction company was found to have breached its health and safety obligations following a vehicle accident which resulted in the worker being crushed and killed. The worker was driving a dump truck which veered off the road and down a bank in June 2017.

​Following a WorkSafe investigation, the company was found to have:

·Failed to communicate, monitor and enforce vehicle policies, including ensuring workers wore seatbelts and had appropriate licenses for the vehicles they were driving (in this case the worker was not licensed to drive the truck which weighed more than 6 tonnes);·Allowed the worker to drive trucks on numerous occasions despite being aware of his inexperience and there being risks from driving on dangerous roads in the area.

The company was ordered to pay a fine of $351,563, reparations of $177,735 and costs of $3,500.

If your workers are using vehicles as part of carrying out their duties, it is therefore important that you:

·Have appropriate vehicle use policies in placeand·Ensure all workers are informed as to the contents of those; and·Monitor compliance with the policies; and·Enforce the policies.

The above article was supplied from the May 2019 E2 Law Employment Email. (21 May 2019).

These will simplify and standardise the driver licensing system, facilitate the move to a digital licensing environment, improve the customer’s experience, support the productivity of the commercial driving sector, and strengthen the driver training and testing regime.

As we will be a significantly affected party, we would like to work with the Agency in this reform. So, we’ll be representing the industry and input from members is always appreciated.

But looking into my crystal ball, I feel confident for our Association’s future.

Personally, I’m excited about encouraging more younger people into our industry, and I’m beginning to see more millennials who are proving to be great employees.

And as I’m slowing down in my own participation within the industry, I’m seeing more of these young guys develop their skill-sets to contribute in meaningful ways.

This may come down to society’s views on the trades – they are becoming sexy again. Being a licenced operator is no small feat; it is a measure of one’s success, too.